In the prior art, fireplaces have mostly been built into the walls of buildings and some have been built into central parts of rooms so as to be open to the rooms with a flue entrance being spaced above the fireplace.
The typical fireplace, whether it is installed in the wall of a room or in a central portion of the room, is a very inefficient heating means in that a substantial part of the heat flows out of the chimney and generally warms the room only in the immediate area of the fireplace.
Where there is no central heating in a mobile home or other type of residence, a typical heat source has been the wood burning stove which transfers very substantial amounts of heat into the room but provides too much heat in the immediate vicinity of the stove, and not enough heat in remote areas of the room or in an adjacent room or rooms.
In the present invention, applicant has created a refractory ceramic fireplace which eliminates the heat loss from a typical fireplace, and, although being somewhat in the form of a stove, eliminates the high heat emission adjacent the structure.